Usher

If you want to be an artist, you have to find a way to market and sell what you've created.
Create your commodity.
You have to realize that you are an entrepreneur of yourself.
And you have to take full responsibility and ownership of who we are and what products you're putting out to the world.
[MUSIC PLAYING] I started off actually a lot older in concept than I did when I was a kid.
Where most kids were trying to figure out what was going on the playground, so on and so forth, I was into much more grown things.
Now, this was all as a result of the people that I was around.
I was around a lot of grown men.
And my mentors wanted me to be cooler, and not necessarily just be a kid.
But that was my branding.
I wanted to make sure that I had something that would cater to the girls.
So the way that my body looked was something that I really, really focused on.
Dancing was also something that was very, very important to me, so I really studied.
I looked at other dances and specific moves from a specific time.
And I brought all of those things that I had seen to my stage, to my videos.
It wasn't until I began to own, or take ownership, of who I was and begin to tell my story the way I wanted to tell it that I began to shape the artist that I am today.
[MUSIC PLAYING] The one thing that matters more than anything is individuality.
If you really want to have longevity as an artist, you have to figure out what your thing is, even if it's inspired by someone else that you've seen and been motivated by.
There was something really cool about the way Bobby Brown was just careless when he first started, right?
There was something cool about the way LL Cool J would like his lips a million times.
You know what I'm saying, for the-- it's for the girls.
But he knew he was doing.
He found the little things that were his.
And maybe that was a part of his culture and where he was from.
And I can remember, you know, traveling the road and looking at television, trying to figure out what is it that people will remember me for?
So I'd sit in my room, you know, and I would just do crunches, crunches.
Because I wanted have this stomach, I wanted to have, you know, the six pack.
That was my thing.
Now if that's your thing, hey, do it.
I'm not saying you will be able to catch up with me, but-- [LAUGHING] Hey, listen.
You got to figure out what it is that you are going to do.
You got to figure out who you are and you've got to be dedicated to it.
That meant 200 crunches a day if that's-- whatever it may be.
Pushps, whatever it is.
That was my thing.
I mean, I use something as simple as my raccoon hat.
A lot of people looked and were like, what is he doing?
That's what I felt at that time and I did it and I committed to it.
No matter how you felt about it, I loved it.
You have to have that type of belief in yourself in orde...

Meet Your New Mentor

Usher, winner of 8 Grammy Awards, reveals the technical skills, career lessons and breakthrough advice that he has used to captivate audiences for over 25 years. For the first time ever, learn how Usher approaches performance and wins over audiences from the studio to the stage. There has never been a class like this before.

Learn Usher's techniques to stand out on stage, read a room, and win over an audience.